Assignment
Word Limit: 1000 Words.
Task
This task is based around ABC Learning, an Australian company that was once the world's largest provider of early childhood education services but which went into receivership in 2008 as a result of inability to service debts and with the auditors unable to sign off on the accounts. Read Cradle Snatch. (ABC Learning Centres and the competition for child care) Forbes, Oct 1, 2007, Vol.180(6), p.102. You will have watched the CPA ABC Learning Videos in ACC566 Accounting Systems & Processes. If you need to refresh your memory of ABC Learning you will find the videos at this web address youtu.be/YYF6JW9vJKo
Part (a)
Read the Cradle Snatch article.
In this article there is discussion about ABC not paying their employees according to the award. Take the part of an auditor of this company who had discovered that the company did not appear to be paying employees the award wage. Use one of the ethical decision guides in your textbook to help you make the decision as to what you should do about this. Clearly document the process you used to make the decision and identify any people or organisations which should be contacted with respect to your decision and the outcome of your decision. One way in which you can set out your decision process is to set up a table for the ethical decision model with a row for each step in the model and a column setting out your decision process.
An example is provided below using the American Accounting Association (AAA) Model. You can use any of the models from the text book, you do not have to use the AAA model.
American Accounting Association Model Decision making process
1. Determine the facts The facts are: ....
2. Define the ethical issues The ethical issues are...
The stakeholders are...
Part (b)
A range of corporate collapses in the early 2000s resulted in users and preparers of financial accounts becoming sceptical of the audit profession.
How have the audit profession, audit committees and regulators responded to change this perception and restore user confidence in the audit function?
Evaluate whether the audit profession has regained its reputation. Here you can provide your own opinion with supporting reasons for your opinion.
Rationale
This assessment has been designed to assess your ability to:
• be able to explain and critically evaluate influences on audit and assurance services including: Australian and international professional standards, statutory and common laws, regulatory bodies, and public expectations within a global market;
• be able to exercise critical and reflective judgement and appreciate the value of ethical practice.